Anarya Dodes and Vidhi Sharma at the MCD School, PTS Colony, Malviya Nagar- August 2016

Artists Anarya Dodes and Vidhi Sharma, recent graduates from Ambedkar University painted 2 hopscotches and 1 mural with 17 wildly enthusiastic 6-7 year olds at the MCD School, PTS Colony, Malviya Nagar (run by NGO Vidya, http://vidya-india.org/). A huge thank you to the artists, students and the teachers of the school in making this a memorable event.

We thank all the members of Artreach for conducting 3 days workshop for students of PTS centre. Students are very happy to play hopscotch early morning and during break time. Younger children learn counting written on the poles. The wall outside 2nd class looks colourful. Children are eager to paint remaining walls as well. One of the child from 2nd class (Radhika) said ‘Mam,Majja aa gya’ (Mam, it was fun). Teachers also enjoyed, giving it a finishing touch. We are looking forward to have many such activities in the school in future.

Gaytri Kapani, Project Coordinator PTS Vidya School

Niqita and Komal Gupta at Udayan Care, April 2016

From Mumbai, Niqita Gupta is a visual anthropologist and photographer and Komal Gupta is a visual merchandiser and designer. In April they spent a colourful weekend at the Udayan Care girls home in Ghaziabad. The resulting mural was of a dynamic underwater scene.

Nilanjana Nandy at Tara Girls, March 2016

Nilanjana Nandy is an artist and educator. Over two weekends in March she painted with the girls at Tara. They began by making self portraits, proceeded onto full body portraits and finally a lively and joyful mural.

 

 

      

   

Charlotte J Ward at Udayan Care, October 2015

Charlotte J Ward is a photographer who also works with video, collage and sound. In October 2015, she held workshops over two weeks with Udayan Care. She introduced the girls at Udayan Care Homes 2 and 12 to self portraiture, photography, and ended her residency with a mural.

Theo Neilson at Salaam Baalak Trust’s Aasra Home May 2015

Theo Neilson from the UK and Louis from France painted a mural with the boys at Salaam Baalak Trust‘s Aasra home in Paharganj. They stayed for 10 days to help the older boys at this short-stay home create an inspiring wall of colour and welcome.

Theo taught English to a group of older boys each morning and in the afternoon they all worked together on the mural. They painted a sky and space scene with planets and space ships and a rocket. “Reach for the stars” it says… On a second wall they painted a more pastoral landscape scene.

Thank you so much for inviting me to take a part in the charity. I never thought I’d be traipsing around Delhi with a broken toe in maddening heat – It’s been a challenge but a very welcome one!

It was great fun to get to know the boys individually and to teach them but also to learn from them at the same time. I learnt about their lives before joining the trust, aspirations and outlooks on life all of which was fascinating and illuminated the amazing work the Salaam Baalak does (as well as the latest gossip on famous Bollywood actors).

I have a lot to thank the boys for. They were always keen to take an active roll in the painting project. Painting with them was incredibly fun, I was apprehensive at first at the site of these huge bare walls but everything ended up nicely fitting into place and I was very pleased that the younger kids were happy with it too. I loved teaching the boys English; watching them improve was very rewarding and they showed great diligence during the lessons.

I would love at some point to go back and visit the charity. In the meantime I’ll be sure to let others to get in touch with you if they are interested in taking part in a project in Delhi.

Theo Neilson
Artist

Cassie Pupovac at Udaan girls’ home. October 2014 – May 2015

Cassie Pupovac, a teaching artist from the American Embassy School in Delhi, visited the girls of this Salaam Baalak home a number of times over several months from October 2014 to May 2015. Gradually they worked towards creating a mural for their recreation space.

From the girls’ drawings Cassie sketched out a plan for the mural. As the wall was red brick we first had to prime an area and this took one session. The next three Sundays we came and the girls brought to life a  sunny, fun and flowery landscape scene. Some of them were as young as six and they all did a marvellous job.

Ibby Dalrymple, Beatrice Hasell-McCosh and Aoife Kenny at the Gairatpur Baas Panchayat School

This school for local children aged 6 – 14 was founded by Martin Howard near his home-stay Tikli Bottom.  The school is in a beautiful location, nestled beneath the Aravalli Hills,  and has fantastic facilities.  Teaching is mostly in English.

In April 2015, three young artists, Ibby Dalrymple, Beatrice Hasell-McCosh and Aoife Kenny spent a long weekend with a group of older children decorating the walls of the school’s library.  Inspired by the many books of stories they created a library train, filled with all sorts of characters.

The Cat in the Hat, the Gruffalo, Chhota Bheem, Cindarella, Akbar and Birbal, Alladin you’ll find them all and more!